Here's "Painting Stupid Girls", the latest missive from the preternaturally talented Glasgow folk experimentalist Joanne Robertson. Over the last 12 years, Joanne has quietly and calmly released a bevy of gorgeous and haunting albums, each containing worlds as complex and beautiful as the work of a master origami folder. She's also been a hands on deck collaborator to the ever prolific Dean Blunt, with whom she released the "Wahalla" album in 2017.
It's raining today in New Zealand, and we're on day three of complete national lockdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Thankfully though, we're allowed to go outside for a walk - as long as we practice appropriate social distancing from anyone we run into. So, you can guess what I did right? I put on some headphones, hit play on "Painting Stupid Girls" and marveled at the six ghostly, guitar and voice-led soundworlds Joanne conjures up across the album, while effortlessly navigating the slipstream between traditional folkloric music and the modern avant-garde freak-folk form that has evolved out of it in recent decades.
I also listened to Bob Dylan's new song, the seventeen minute one. Three quarters of the way through, a cicada flew into my forehead. It's been one of those days (weeks, months, years).
You can select a streaming service to listen to Painting Stupid Girls through here. No word on a physical edition yet, but that isn't that surprising is it?